About 40 people marched in Holyoke in a snow storm on December 20. They were protesting the failure of state and federal politicians to pass laws that probably could have saved the life of Jonas Nuñez, a fifteen year old who was murdered with a gun on December 12 in Holyoke. Libby Hernandez is a member of the Holyoke city council. She organized the march. On December 21 Hernandez told the Valley Post better mental health care, more and better jobs, and better schools likely could have prevented the tragedy.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy wrote in a 2015 article in the New Republic magazine, "Ban guns. All guns. Get rid of guns in homes, and on the streets and, as much as possible, on police." Hunters can use bows and arrows.

In 1996 and 1997, the government of Australia collected about 650,000 privately owned guns. In the years following the mandatory gun buyback program, gun violence and gun suicides plummeted.

In August 2018 in Springfield, Massachusetts a march for stronger gun control laws ended. The march started in Worcester, Massachusetts. "We're taking inspiration from the 54-mile Selma to Montgomery march for civil rights," Zoe Grover told the Valley Post. She was one of the march organizers, and the director of a Massachusetts-based group that has a web site at www.StopHandgunViolence.org.

Holyoke is home to about 40,000 people, 56 percent of whom are people of color.